Volume 17, Issue 14
Bangabandhu’s policy was to ensure hassle-free power supply at affordable price for achieving economic development of the country. His strategy was to utilize own resources instead of dependence on imported fuel. Bangladesh in its long journey of about 50 years since independence made significant progress – be it in terms of the economy or other areas. The energy sector is not also lagging behind. The power subsector has made remarkable progress particularly in generation thanks to tremendous efforts especially over the last 11 years. The overcapacity of late drew some criticisms though. However, one of the major issues of concern is that the country is gradually getting dependent on imported fuel, putting price pressure on the consumers. There is a projection that the country is approaching towards 90 percent dependence on the imported fuel. Ultimately, the consumers will have to bear the brunt.
The main challenge is to increase the contribution of own fuel to the fuel mix to limit the power generation cost. It is not an easy task, however. But, hectic efforts should be there for exploring own primary fuel alongside taking a realistic plan to limit the use of imported fuel to its lowest possible level.
